In researching what goes into a successful—and incredibly simple—butterscotch sauce, I discovered countless discussions across the interwebs about butterscotch versus caramel. To summarize: A butterscotch sauce is made with brown sugar, while a traditional caramel sauce is made with white sugar.

I’ve caramelized sugar a million times and a thousand different ways—white sugar, brown sugar, butter, no butter, bourbon, whiskey, cream, vanilla. This recipe is hands-down the winner when it comes to a fast (10 minutes!) and easy sauce for ice cream sundaes. I tested the recipe with light and dark brown sugar, and the dark variety inevitably won out for its deeper molasses flavor and intense amber color. I also opted for large-flake sea salt to balance out the sweetness. And the texture? Silky smooth, and totally eat-it-with-a-spoon-worthy.

Ingredients:

Directions:

Melt the butter in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan (not non-stick) over medium heat.

Add the brown sugar, salt and heavy cream and stir the mixture with a rubber spatula until it's well blended. Bring the mixture to a boil, scraping down the sides occasionally, and boil it for 4 to 5 minutes.

Remove the mixture from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract. Transfer the butterscotch sauce to a container to cool. (See Kelly's Notes.)

Kelly's Notes:

The butterscotch thickens significantly as it cools, so it's important to not over-boil it or you'll end up with chewy butterscotch caramels rather than a pourable sauce.

If you want to add a kick to your butterscotch sauce, stir in 1 to 2 tablespoons of your choice liquor (think bourbon, whiskey or cognac) at the same time you stir in the vanilla extract.

Kelly, as usual you have come up with somethingGreat! I,ve never made Carmel sauce or butterscotch sauce but I love them both I really didn,t know there was a difference See there you learn something new everyday! Thanks Kelly u are great!

Hai Kelly,
Thanks for this (and al your othet) great recipe. I was thinking of msking a caramel sause to put in a coffee. The ones they sell here in Spain have a little burnt taste to it and we don’t like that. Do you think i could use it for in coffee? And if i boil the cream first and let it cool, would it last longer?

I made this with my gourmand 8 year old son. While the taste/flavor is amazing, I was disappointed how quickly it turned into a hardened state once put on ice cream. Did anyone else experience this? Any advice/suggestions? Did I do something wrong? I expected a texture like a caramel sauce.

I was also looking for something to put in coffee.
Normally I make caramel sauce (1/2 cup of brown sugar and 2 tablespoons of water and 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract boiled- taken off heat and adding 1/2 cup of half and half) that I mix with 1 1/2 cups of half and half.
This time I’m trying for a Highlander Grogg flavored creamer.
I guess all I can do is try it out!

[…] For my friend Erika’s birthday we decided to make “Butter Beer” cupcakes (recipe coming soon). An avid Harry Potter fan, I knew she would appreciate them, so I looked up a good recipe. The centers called for a Butterscotch middle, which I had no recipe for. So, after searching Pinterest I found this recipe from justataste.com. […]